Well this produced some good, some bad and some ugly. The good was all of the fish survived the move and they bred to my surprise. The bad is pretty much a hassle timing the removal right. I have to be there at the exact right time, and not even before a crash. The ugly, just fed the freakin herons. They came in and cleaned out the pond as all that is left is gambusia. I am not going to do that again. No fish in these drawdown ponds, or ponds that go dry during the Summer seasonally.
I think these are best suited for lilies. I can do a lot more and not have to worry about getting the fish out before the birds do it for me. I can put in multiple strains in different parts of the pond, growout a lot, take most out and see which survive completely out of the water in the soil when it goes dry. Better bang for the buck, neither the fish or lilies cost me anything, but I'd be better served just throwing lilies in there and getting them out at my leisure, or maybe not at all if I get several droughtbuster species in there.
I have to make brood ponds and growout ponds where they have year round water and cover from the birds. There were or are still a large amount of surface weeds on this pond but that did not deter the birds. Was a fun experiment but I just cringe losing prime lmb. They deserved a better fate. Learned a lot though, so loss not in vain. Plenty where they came from.
Last edited by The Pond Frog; 08/09/10 11:46 AM.
